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Get ready to brighten up your doorstep, yard, and sidewalk as three new Philips Hue outdoor smart lights debut at CES today.
Sales are scheduled for March. Philips Hue’s new wall-mounted barrel light at Signify will add an eye-catching spot of light to your doorstep, while the larger version of the Lily outdoor spotlight and the new Econic base light will help you do just that. illuminate your gardens and outdoor paths.
In addition to the new outdoor lighting, Philips Hue is (thankfully) making it easier to manage its recently released Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, and the long-beta zone feature will have a permanent place in the Hue mobile app.
First up is the new Philips Hue Appear, a $140 wall-mounted cylindrical light that emits a “directional triangular light” both up and down.
The $140 Philips Hue Appear Wall Street Light casts light both up and down.
A pair of adjustable white and colored decorative lights can be just a side part of your front door or something else to add a pop of color to your exterior wall.
A larger version of the Philips Hue Lily spotlight will also be launched in March. The $140 Low Pressure Lily XL has twice the lumens of the existing Lily (1200 lumens vs 600 lumens), is about three times as long (10.83 inches), twice as wide (5.91 inches) and three inches height (10.83 inches). Another new feature on the XL is the anti-reflective hood.
We called the original Lily “the perfect landscaping highlight” in our review, so we’re curious to see what the new XL Lily looks like.
Finally, Philips Hue will add a low voltage base light to its stylish Econic range of street lights.
When it debuted last fall, we praised the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box for its impressive accuracy and responsiveness in syncing Hue lights to your TV. However, we’re disappointed that it doesn’t come with a remote control and its built-in IR receiver is dormant, meaning the only way to control the Sync Box is through the mobile app.
Good news: Signify has announced the inclusion of a Sync Box IR receiver, which means you can use any standard or universal remote control to turn the box on and off, or (most importantly) switch between HDMI inputs.
The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box will finally work with IR remotes and (released this spring) voice commands via Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.
Meanwhile, Sync Box will support voice control via Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. With voice commands, you can turn the sync box on and off, switch HDMI inputs, change lighting settings, and update the sync box software.
Hue Play HDMI Sync Box voice control will be released with a firmware update this spring.
Last but not least, Signify says the “zones” Hue feature that lets you control lights in multiple rooms at the same time is no longer in beta.
Zones not only have a permanent place in the Hue mobile app, but you can also control them with compatible Hue accessories, including Hue wireless dimmers, the new Hue smart buttons, or the Friend of Hue switch.
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for over 20 years. Ben has been a member of PCWorld since 2014 and joined TechHive in 2019 working on smart speakers, soundbars and other smart and home theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.
Post time: Aug-11-2022